ESPN Eric Karabell Blog

My favorite e-mail of the week came from a seemingly bitter fellow named "Stefan in New Jersey," who entered this week's Monday night matchup with the New York Jets defense, Jerricho Cotchery and a 20-point lead on his opponent, who had only Ronnie Brown left. Twenty points! What could go wrong!? Well, obviously something did, or Stefan wouldn't be angry and writing mean things about that Jets defense today. Brown delivered 20 points. Cotchery earned a goose egg. The Jets lost four points for Stefan. That's how a surefire fantasy win becomes a loss, a painful loss.

I'm often asked whether it's poor sportsmanship to sit a defense if it's playing Monday night and you have what appears to be a nice, safe lead. I can't say for sure I would have sat the Jets on Monday because I didn't think they'd get torched and I'm normally aggressive in going for the win. This is just bad luck. If I had a one-point lead and the Jets defense going, and my opponent had nothing left, though, there's no question I would sit the defense. I'd even sit the quarterback. Once in a while, they deliver negative scoring games, too. This isn't poor sportsmanship. It's smart. Sorry, Stefan, but what happened to you, that's just bad luck. And yes, I realize that for many of you, total points is the season tiebreaker, but still, I say get the victory and worry about the tiebreaker later.

Here are some other e-mails I've received since Monday. For more answers to fantasy football questions, check out my chat from Wednesday. I host a chat each Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, and obviously get to a lot more of your questions there.